Empire Inkstand

Rectangular shaped base raised on four turned feet. Front and side panels decorated with swans drinking from a fountain, butterflies, shells and garlands. Above a central kneeling nude female figure with butterfly wings (Psyche) holding a large shell above her head as a pen rest. To her left fitment for the inkwell covered with a squirrel and to her right for the sand with a rooster finial.

LITERATURE

Arcadi Gaydamak, Russian Empire; Moscow-Paris, 2000. Page 224 with the illustration of an inkstand with almost identical base from the collection of the State History Museum, Moscow.